


Alone on Valentine's Day

by RealismNotSexism



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe, Doctor Ben Solo, F/M, Fluff, Graduate School, Himbo Ben Solo, One Shot, Valentine's Day, Valentine's Day Fluff, patient Rey
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-15
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-17 17:28:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29475465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RealismNotSexism/pseuds/RealismNotSexism
Summary: Rey and Ben are alone on Valentine's Day, but an accident on the ice brings them together.
Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo
Comments: 4
Kudos: 56





	Alone on Valentine's Day

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Valentine's Day! This is taking the place of my usual Monday Catalyst for Change upload because how could I not write Reylo V Day fluff? Check back next Monday for the latest installment in Catalyst for Change :)

Rey parked her car in front of the small house. It looked the same as all the others, rows of manufactured houses to meet the demands of suburban sprawl, a uniform box covered in tan siding. The only exception was the bright orange shutters and stark white front door, obviously painted by the owner. She wrapped her scarf around her, grabbed her charge, and headed toward the house.

She skidded her way up the front porch, cursing under her breath at the idiot for not icing the path. She rang the doorbell impatiently, eager to get back to the restaurant to run more deliveries. At her feet lay a festive welcome mat. “Be mine you must,” it said, and Yoda’s silhouette was surrounded by tiny red hearts. She rolled her eyes at the mat and rang the doorbell once more, shaking away a chill.

Finally, the door opened. A large man emerged from the house breathless. Tufts of his dark black hair hung out of place as if he had just come from a run. “Hi! Sorry, the app didn’t tell me you were close so I had to put pants on.” The man’s eyes widened in embarrassment. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to overshare.”

“I’m used to it,” Rey said, smiling thinly. She removed two pizzas from the warming bag. “Your total is $24.67.”

“I really wasn’t trying to hit on you,” he continued while rummaging in his pockets for the exact change.

“It’s fine, really,” she said with earnest. He seemed to relax a little.

He began piling change into neat piles on top of the pizza boxes that were still in her hands. Under his breath, he counted until he reached 67 cents. “Here you go,” he said, shoving the change and cash into her hand and took the pizzas into his own. “When I was a server, I always hated people giving me change as part of my tip, so I wanted to pay the exact amount. ‘Why do you think I want your change?’” he said exasperatedly.

Rey smiled at his charm and appraised him for the first time. It wasn’t often that her male customers were anything more than derogatory. “I appreciate it. I have a change jar at home that I can never bring myself to cash. It’s so much effort,” she groaned dramatically.

They assessed one another for a moment. In that instance, Rey registered a mutual attraction. But it didn’t last long. “Well, thank you for your business, sir,” she said too formally.

“Happy Valentine’s Day,” he called as she turned around.

“Mhm.” _Dork,_ she thought to herself. Rey stepped off the porch. However, instead of connecting with the rough surface of a sidewalk, her foot met a slippery layer of ice. With a shout, she fell to the ground. In an unconscious attempt to save the wad of cash, she braced the fall with her free hand. A sharp pain flared up her wrist and she curled into a ball.

The man dropped the pizzas to the floor and rushed, carefully, to her side. “Holy shit, I am so sorry!”

“You should be,” Rey spat between acute breaths.

“Shit, shit, shit. Can you move it?”

Rey wiggled her hand in a few different directions with a grimace. She nodded her head.

“Good, so it’s probably not broken then. Here, let me help you up.”

He was impossibly large towering over her now, and his face was riddled with concern. She grasped his hand begrudgingly and climbed to her feet. “Thanks. I should get going.”

“Can you drive?”

Rey eyed her wrist dubiously. Of course it was her dominant hand. Of course she drove a stick. “Shit.”

“Here, you wait here and I’ll go get you some ice.”

Before she could protest, he was already through the door, wedged open by the discarded pizza boxes. Her phone buzzed aggressively in her pocket. She didn’t have to check to know who it was. “Hi Plutt,” she answered, not attempting to hide the disdain in her voice.

“Where are you? I expected you back ten minutes ago!”

She held the phone away from her ear to spare her eardrums. “I can’t control the traffic,” she said. The stranger emerged from the house with what appeared to be a frozen bag of vegetables. She waved him off with her elbow and turned away. “I also hurt my wrist on my last delivery, I’m actually still here.”

“I’ll believe it when I see it. You’d better get your ass here by nine or you’re fired! Lots of lonely people ordering pizza on Valentine’s Day. And lots of lonely drivers to deliver them.”

Rey looked at her watch and saw that it was 9:01. He’d been trying to get rid of her ever since she reported him to HR for sexual harassment. She took a steadying breath and replied with more control. “I can’t come back to work tonight, but I’ll swing by to drop off the cash from this set of deliveries. And then I’ll be there first thing tomorrow!” She was desperate. Not many jobs were willing to work with her class schedule and cash tips weren’t taxed.

“Bring back the cash, but this is it. You’re done!” he yelled and hung up the phone.

Rey turned her anger at Plutt toward the stranger, her eyes tiny daggers. “You.” The man gathered well enough what had transpired on the phone. She could see it in the blood that drained from his face.

“I have frozen peas,” he offered meekly.

She ripped them from his hand and applied it to her throbbing wrist with much relief. “Holy shit that feels good. Thanks.”

They both shivered against the cold. “Look, do you want to come inside? I have a pressure wrap and ibuprofen. It’s the least I can do for getting you fired.”

She eyed him suspiciously. She could take care of herself ordinarily, but his size could pose a problem if he were to try anything. “I have my location turned on, you know. If anything happens to me, the first place the cops will look is right here.”

To her relief, he was speechless. She was only worried about the men who laughed at her caution. She interrupted his stammering with a disarming “I’m kidding” followed by “But I’m really not.”

Dazed, he followed her into the house, close behind in case she fell again.

The warmth of the house flushed her cheeks and her eyes adjusted to the dim lighting. He reached around her to flip a light switch, illuminating a cozy living room. “Nice place,” she said.

“Thanks. Would you mind taking off your shoes?”

She nodded, kicking off her grubby sneakers and placing them on the shoe rack beside her. They were out of place among his well-kept tennis shoes and designer boots. She was mortified at her big toe poking prominently through a hole in her mismatched socks.

“Do you need help with your coat?”

Rey shook her good arm out of its sleeve and held the other out toward the man who took it wordlessly. Gingerly, he pulled the fabric over her wrist.

“Make yourself at home. I’ll get you some ibuprofen.” He picked up the fallen boxes of pizza from the floor and walked through an archway to what she assumed was the kitchen. 

Rey sent a quick text to her roommate for added peace of mind and sat on a worn leather sectional at the far side of the room, the scent of the fabric reminding her of home. Some cooking show was paused on the TV. The chef was in the middle of what looked to be a seafood salad, the person on screen cutting octopus tentacles into bite-sized pieces. _So he’s a cook,_ Rey thought. She examined the remainder of the apartment for more clues as to who the man was who had cost her her job.

As inviting as the living room was, she noticed a general sense of chaos to the rest of the room. He had crammed a random assortment of books, movies, two Tupperware containers, and a handful of other miscellaneous items onto a bookshelf, and there were a few cardboard boxes with various contents placed about the room.

The man emerged with a noisy bottle of pills and glass of water in hand. “Sorry I took so long. I wanted to find an unopened bottle so you didn’t think I was drugging you,” he said lightheartedly, though his expression was serious.

Rey raised an eyebrow. “I’m not sure if I feel better or worse hearing that.”

He sat on the sofa next to her, removed the safety seal, and poured a few of the pills into her hand.

“I’m Rey by the way.”

“Ben,” he said. “How’s it feeling?”

“Fucking horrible.” She lifted the bag of peas and winced at the discoloration of her puffy skin. “Is it supposed to bruise this quickly?”

“That’s totally normal. Here, this should help.” He offered her a long swath of compression wrap. “It should keep some of the swelling down. That’s what’s causing all the pain.”

“Are you a doctor or something?”

“Yeah, actually. Or at least I’m in med school. May I?” he asked, holding out his hand to examine her wrist.

Rey placed her wrist in his hands, wincing in anticipation of pain. But despite their size, they handled her injury with delicacy.

“It doesn’t seem like anything’s broken. Honestly, it’s probably not worth a trip to the ER. All they’ll do is take too long to see you and tell you to keep doing what you’re doing.”

“I don’t have the money for that anyway,” she scoffed.

“Obviously if you need any medical treatments, I’ll pay for them.”

“I would hope so. But you’re right, it’s not worth going to the ER if they’re gonna tell me the same thing you are.” She paused reflectively. “Would you mind wrapping this for me? I don’t want to fuck it up.”

He placed her wrist on his lap as he prepared the bandaging.

“Did you just move here?” she asked to fill the quiet between them. “I saw the boxes,” she explained awkwardly.

“You could say that. I’ve been here a few months but I’m not great with details.”

“That sounds dangerous for a future doctor,” she teased. Pain shot through her wrist as he wrapped the bandage around her, and she flinched her hand away.

“Sorry,” he said, pulling her wrist back to his lap. “Let me know if it’s too tight.”

She saw him glance at her face with concern before turning his attention back to her wrist. The charmingly awkward man from earlier had transformed into a serious medical professional.

“What do you do?” he asked.

“Well, I _was_ a delivery driver,” she paused to glare at him reproachfully, “but it’s my side gig. I’m doing a grad program in Library Science.”

“Never heard of that.”

“Most people haven’t. I’m mostly interested in archival work. There’s nothing I love more than working with old things that most people consider junk.”

She saw a smile cross his lips. He tucked the last bit of fabric into one of the many folds and lifted her wrist for one last examination. “All done,” he said. “I’m really sorry, Rey.”

She liked the sound of her name on his lips and the feel of his hands on her wrist, even if it was through several layers of bandaging. “It’s okay. I know where you live so I can track you down for money if need be.”

“There will be no need to track me down. You’re officially my patient and I need to ensure a rapid recovery.” The suaveness of his statement contrasted with the goofy grin on his face. The man who had to chase down a pair of pants was back.

“Well then, Dr. Ben, I’ll give you my number so you can keep tabs on me.”

Ben’s eyes widened in surprise, but he recovered quickly. He whipped his phone from his back pocket and looked at her expectantly.

She gave him her number, her last name, and her preferred emoji, the lobster.

“Why a lobster?”

“I grew up in Arizona, so the ocean’s always fascinated me. And lobsters are hilarious with their maniacal eyebrows.” She wiggled the pointer finger of her good hand near her temple. “They were always my favorite.”

“Well, Rey, lover of lobsters, you’re officially in my phone.”

She didn’t know how to respond to his awkward comment, but a flash of pain saved her from trying. “I should probably get going,” she said. Being in pain around a stranger, even a handsome stranger, wasn’t her idea of fun.

“Are you sure you’ll be okay? Do you have a roommate who can help you?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll be fine.” She stood, suddenly aware of how much time she had been there.

“You can’t drive with your wrist like that.” It seemed that his comment was born of genuine concern rather than a thinly veiled attempt to prolong their time together.

“I’m sure I’ll be fine,” she lied.

“I don’t mind driving you. Your roommate can come get your car tomorrow. Or I can call you an Uber if that’s easier.”

She bit the inside of her cheek. A nagging voice in her head droned on and on about how she was annoying and he just wanted to be rid of her, to take the damn Uber and be done with it. Either that or this was all an elaborate plot to sleep with her because he was alone on Valentine’s Day. Neither option felt particularly good to consider. Instead, she took him at his word.

“You’re right,” she said. “I’m not in any shape to drive and you _owe_ me.”

Ben grinned and hopped up from the couch a little too quick to be cool. “I’ll get my keys.”

A short drive later, they pulled into an empty parking spot in front of her building. “Now you need to take two ibuprofen every four hours and ice your wrist, 20 on, 20 off. Have your roommate help wrap it if it hurts too much to do it yourself.”

“I’ve got it, Doc. I have a great nurse named Google.”

“Yeah, well Nurse Google isn’t getting a medical degree.”

“I think you’re afraid Nurse Google will put you out of business. It’s good with details unlike a certain doctor I know.”

“You’ll call me if you have any problems?” he asked, ignoring her previous comment.

“I’ll text you, but yes, I’ll reach out.”

They sat in silence, Rey picking at loose bits of pleather on her seat and Ben twisting a lock of his hair. 

“Sorry I ruined your Valentine’s Day,” he said.

“I was delivering pizzas, I’m pretty sure it was ruined before you were a part of it. Besides, it’s a corny holiday anyway.”

“Yeah, but it’s nice to celebrate it anyway.”

She scoffed but made sure he saw the humor in her eyes. “Well, you’re corny.”

“I’ll take it,” he said. “So you really didn’t mind delivering pizza tonight to all the happy couples?”

“Not really. Most of the people I delivered to were just as lonely as me.”

“I was _not_ lonely,” he said defensively.

“I’m only teasing,” she said, poking him in the ribs. She hesitated before continuing. “Besides a broken wrist-“

“Not broken,” he interjected.

“Besides a _twisted_ wrist,” she corrected, “this wasn’t such a bad Valentine’s Day.”

“You think?” he asked. “I’d hate to see what you consider a good time is if twisting your wrist and losing your job don’t constitute a bad night.”

“I guess it all depends on how good my aftercare is, Dr. Ben,” she said with a wry smile. She kissed him on the cheek and got out of the car before he could respond.


End file.
